2015 Bahrain Grand Prix
The Bahrain Grand Prix was the inaugural round of the 2015 season. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel started on pole, and GP2 star Aarava started fifth. Sebastian Vettel also won the race and set the fastest lap with a 1:33.652. Top 10 Starting Grid # Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari # Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes # Daniel Riccardo - Red Bull # Nico Rosberg - Mercedes # Aarava - McLaren # Nico Hulkenberg - Force India # Valterri Bottas - Williams # Felipe Massa - Williams # Sergio Perez - Force India # Jenson Button - McLaren The Race Aarava got off to a complete rocket of a start getting up to second off the bat. On lap 3, with Aarava making an aggressive move on Vettel, the two made slight contact. No damage was done to the Ferrari or the McLaren. Sebastian Vettel made the interesting decision on lap 4 to pit from the lead, surrendering the lead to Aarava. Speaking of pit stops, Aarava came down for his first stop on lap 8. On lap 10, Max Verstappen made his stop. On lap 13, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel came in, reminder that this would be Vettel's second stop. On the next lap, the other Silver Arrow of Nico Rosberg came in for his stop. After Rosberg came in, the young Brit Aarava found himself in the lead. On lap 15, between a battle with Aarava and Kimi Raikkonen, the two made contact, and the FIA gave Aarava a warning for the incident. The battle ended in Raikkonen taking the lead. On lap 16, a slow Lewis Hamilton gave leader Kimi Raikkonen and Aarava a bit of a scare when he began to stop due to a right rear puncture. Hamilton, however proved to be the buffer to give Aarava back the lead. The Silver Arrow of Hamilton would subsequently retire. Raikkonen then pulled into the pits on lap 17, with possible damage after contact with Hamilton. Aarava came into the pits for his second stop on lap 20. Surprisingly, Vettel came in on the same lap for his second scheduled stop, Rosberg also came in during the same cycle. On lap 26, Aarava, Vettel, and Rosberg all had an intense battle, however, no positions were changed. A huge blow to Mercedes came only one lap after Rosberg's fight with Aarava and Vettel when his Silver Arrow slowed massively, losing a position to Daniel Ricciardo. However, he recovered to finish third. On the final lap, Aarava lost the lead to Vettel. Aarava then began a wild chase through the final sector to catch up, but his traction failed him, giving Vettel the position and Aarava an agonizing second. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg came third. Drivers Championship (Top 12) # Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) - 25 Pts # Aarava (McLaren) - 18 Pts # Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) - 15 Pts # Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) - 12 Pts # Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) - 10 Pts # Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) - 8 Pts # Jenson Button (McLaren) - 6 Pts # Valterri Bottas (Williams) - 4 Pts # Felipe Massa (Williams) - 2 Pts # Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) - 1 Pts # Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 0 Pts # Felipe Nasr (Sauber) - 0 Pts Constructors Championship # Scuderia Ferrari - 35 Pts # McLaren - 24 Pts # Red Bull Racing - 20 Pts # Mercedes AMG - 15 Pts # Williams Martini Racing - 6 Pts # Sahara Force India - 1 Pts # Sauber F1 - 0 Pts # Lotus F1 - 0 Pts # Scuderia Toro Rosso - 0 Pts # Manor Marussia - 0 Pts